Real Estate News

Quick move-in specials from the low $200s was announced by D.R Horton’s Southwest Florida Divisions. These available homes are in Moody River Estates, located in North Fort Myers on Hancock Bridge Parkway. There are 3 model homes, completely furnished, that are ready for viewing. One of them, and the biggest of them all, is the Newport Model. It measures 3,552 square feet and is 2 stories high. It has a garage that is big enough to fit 3 cars. There are 5 bedrooms and 4 and a 1/2 baths. The second largest model home is the Hawthorne which measures 2,583 square feet. It has 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, a den and a garage fitting 3 cars. The third home model is the Edison, measuring 1,983 square feet and has 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a den and a 2-car garage.

13 home plans are on offer. These home plans range from 1,804 square feet of living space to 3,552 square feet. Access to the Gulf of Mexico and Caloosahatchee River will be possible through the community boat launch. The amenities include a fitness center, a clubhouse, community room, a heated swimming pool and spa and billiards. The HOA (Home Owners Association) fee will cater for landscape maintenance, irrigation and exterior pest control.

There are many customer relationship management (CRM) tools available in the market but there are only few which are made specifically for real estate agents. Well, Reality Juggler fills this void.

It is a CRM tool which has been designed keeping the real estate market in mind. It has almost everything a real estate agent needs. The benefit of using a CRM tool is that it allows you to organize everything neatly. There are many other features included in this app in addition to the awesome tracking features. Some of the items you can easily track are:

Prospects
Listings
Offers
Promotions
Closings
Clients
Showings

In addition to being an all encompassing data management tool, it also allows you to create, import as well as export various contracts and other documents. You can also include your own customized graphic letterheads on the documents.

This is not all; it also has many real estate calculators which allow you to show detailed statistics to your customers to help them take decisions easily. These calculators allow you to show comparisons between rent versus buy and maximum loan limit amongst various other things.

It costs a very affordable $99 a year and you do not need to purchase it outright as there is also a 90 day free trial available to test various features.

2. Carbonite

Our lives have become digital today. Very few realize this but our dependence on technology is scary. Almost all of the data generated today is stored on computers and there are no hardcopy backups. Well, have you ever given a thought to the fact that a computer crash may wipe out all of the data on your computer hard drive.

It is indeed scary but thankfully there are a few digital solutions available which allow you to backup all of your data for a very low price. Carbonite is one such solution which allows you to backup all of your data to secure online cloud for just $59 annually. The cost goes down further if you buy for multiple years or for multiple computers.

In the unfortunate event of a crash, you can download all of the data to your new hard drive in just a few clicks. In addition to the ability to restore data to a new computer, you can also access the data from anywhere in the world with just an internet connection.

3. Card Munch

Business relationships are the cornerstone of a successful real estate agent and almost all of the business relationships begin with exchange of a business card. However, maintaining those business cards is a pain and Card Munch takes away that pain.

This is a free LinkedIn app and currently only available for iPhone. With the help of this app, you can import all of the data on a business card to your LinkedIn contacts by just clicking a picture of the card. It is a very efficient way of maintaining contacts which saves you from punching in the data one by one.

Currently, there is no android or iPad version. However, a similar app named as Cam Card is available for android on trial basis. You can also upgrade to a powerful paid version later.

4. Jot Form

Leads at the lifeblood of a real estate business and there is nothing better than a well-designed form on a website to capture leads.

Jotform is a form builder which allows you to quickly build beautiful and highly converting forms. You do not need to hire a programmer to use it. Also, it does not require any registration. You can use this app to:

It has a free version which allows you to collect up to 100 submissions on a monthly basis. If you need a higher limit, the pricing starts from a very affordable $9.95 per month.

5. Around Me

Have you ever been in a situation where in a client asks about the various facilities near the property you are touring? Well, I have faced a few situations where I did not have time to find out more about the surrounding area but Around Me came to my help.

It is a beautiful little app, currently available only on iOS, which tells about various movie theatres, restaurants, banks, gas stations, supermarkets, bars and other such places in a location.

This way, you can quickly tell a client about the locality. I also use it personally to know more about a locality. This is also a great help to buyers who have just relocated and are not aware of places to go in the new locality.

This app offers a quick overview of various facilities in the locality and also allows you to highlight various benefits of the property.

With the spring home-buying season starting, a slight drop in the mortgage rates across America has been noted. This is according to the latest survey of Freddie Mac, a mortgage buyer.

Data shows that from a 4.41 percent average rate last week on a 30-year fixed mortgage, there is already just a 4.34 percent average rate this week. However, compared to figures from last year by only 3.43 percent, the current one still proves to be higher.

Moreover, a small dip was also noted in the 15-year fixed mortgage average rate at 3.38 percent from 3.47 percent last week. But still, this does not compare to the record low of 2.62 percent last year.

Freddie Mac also showed data that this week’s averages for the 5-year ARM and the 1-year ARM, the two most popular hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages, have also declined slightly. The 5-year ARM went from 3.12 percent last week to 3.09 this week. The 1-year ARM, on the other hand, is also now at 2.41 percent from 2.45 percent.

Frank Nothaft, Vice President and Chief Economist at Freddie Mac, says that mortgage rates have eased after the decline in the 10-year Treasury yields. He also added that the economy also has affected the decline in that for one, the 192,000 jobs added in March were below the forecasted figures, and two, the unemployment rate remained at 6.7 percent.

Right now, analysts are not sure of whether mortgage rates will improve next week or not. Based on the Mortgage Rate Trend Index, only 24 percent of analysts are hopeful that mortgage rate becomes better next week. Some 38 percent believe it will continue to dwindle while the remaining 38 percent hope that it will remain steady.

Jim Sahnger, mortgage planner from Schaffer Mortgage in Palm Beach Gardens, FL., believes mortgage rates will improve as shown in some improvements after the release of the employment report.

Own this featured property located in Lee County(FortMyersRealEstate.com). A Madrid model house situated in one of the elite Lee County communities that you would surely love. This wonderful abode is located at 10828 Tiberio Drive in Pelican Preserve.

The house was built in 2007 and has been continuously upgraded fit for a luxurious lifestyle. This 2,245-square-foot home offers a large den, open kitchen with a breakfast nook, fabulous dining area, spacious living room, 3 bedrooms, 2½ baths, and a two-car garage. It also has a screened patio that overlooks scenic views of the lake and golf course.

This Pelican Preserve home has great amenities. It is also a gated community perfect for retirees who want a more active lifestyle. The home is up for grab at $329,000.

Surely, America is a great place to live in and start a family. However, living in any of its big cities can be overwhelming. Sometimes, we might even be thinking about living in a smaller town with a simpler lifestyle for stress-free living.

If you want to live in a small town with friendly neighbors, fun weekend barbecues, clear streets, a population of less than 15,000 residents, and a smaller crowd you can befriend, then you must check out some of the great small towns in America. Here is a list of the top 10 best small towns that includes:

Chautauqua, NY

Healdsburg, CA

Williamsburg, VA

Steamboat Springs, CO

Woods Hole, MA

Marietta, GA

Beaufort, SC

Sedona, AZ

Nebraska City, NE

Lanesboro, MN

Within these small towns, there are great homes available with prices ranging from $79,900 (a simple structured home) to $3,000,000 (a luxurious estate). Visit one of these beautiful, small towns and find yourself a cozy place you can ultimately call HOME.